Hunting seasons open Wednesday, Nov. 15 for small game and archery hunting for deer. Hunting ends December 15th. This also applies to Kinnickinnic SP. Only selected areas of both parks are open for hunting. The nine day gun hunt for deer opens on Saturday. Signage is posted with a map of open and closed areas. The translation for skiers is that there will not be any kind of ski trail grooming until after hunting ends. This is not something new. In the groomers meeting, we agreed that grooming trails while the hunt was on would be sending a mixed message about hiking on groomed trails, thus, no grooming during the hunt. The grooming team may just have to send some hours pulling the drags around on Dec. 16th. Yesterday (and Sunday) I took the mower out to do some finish work since the winter rough cut was done. I wanted to get through the hunting areas of the Red and Orange trails. The mower could not handle cutting a thick mat of rough cut prairie grass on parts of the the Red Prairie loop. Where there was a previous cut for a fire break, it was mixed results on the mower. I ran the mower around the Red and Orange to cut and blow leaves off the trail. Again, it was mixed results with some leaves frozen down. The real test will be how the groomers see it in snow, and how it skis. Today a minor tree pruning job led to 4.5 volunteer hours of it on various trails. The Red Prairie loop now has a short view into a ravine. Its going to be rather rough along that edge this season since the trail cut was made this autumn. The ravine, I guess you just have to go see for yourself what is there. If you hike, it is in an open hunting area. Trail work will continue on various weekdays only and well removed from open hunting areas.

(Jeff Bolte)

Ski trail brushing occurs Tuesday mornings on a weekly basis. Brushing by a small crew may go any day of the week. Expect varying volumes of noise if you are out hiking. The brushing work is targeting the most overgrown areas of buckthorn. Work will vary from a one season fix to something much more long term. Winter trail widening has been in progress with the Bobcat. What do you as a skier get from this? Hope is to have a 9' wide skate deck, adequate room for one or two way classic, and no brush in your face under most circumstances. We are not going to get everything that droops in heavy snow on every trail. There are places where high value trees must stay, thus constricting the trail. Where we have done the long term fix, I really like the results. Tests are planned on these. Work will continue until the roller hits the trails.

(Jeff Bolte)